Working Groups

*Actual working groups and task forces will have specific names.

All Consortium members may recommend new standards initiatives or updates, influence and contribute to new standards and standards updates, and approve Consortium work product according to their level of membership.

The PNT Standards Consortium adheres to an open consensus process for developing and managing these and other potential standards projects impacting the positioning, navigation and timing space.

The process begins with recommended work projects submitted to Consortium leadership for approval. Leadership within the working groups will evaluate submission requests from members for new projects. After Working Group approval, a Task Force will be chartered with specific objectives and measurements for success for project completion.

Once the Task Force approves their work product, it is shared with the parent Working Group for review and approval and once approved will go to the Board for final approval.

PNT Standards Consortium intends to establish working groups for ASPN and pntOS and any others that may support the Consortium’s mission in the future.

ASPN

ASPN is a community-developed data standard that describes what positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) data may be exchanged for consistent usage and interoperability of PNT estimators across different systems, sources, and users.

ASPN defines navigation message content of both the PNT information sources and the PNT users. These definitions enable PNT estimators to be built using these message content definitions.

pntOS

pntOS is an open-source plugin architecture designed to accelerate the development and deployment of integrated Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) sensor fusion solutions.

Developed under U.S. government sponsorship and built on the community-developed ASPN standard message formats, pntOS provides a common framework for integrating diverse PNT technologies into interoperable systems.

The architecture supports a modular ecosystem where commercial, proprietary, government-developed, and open-source plugins can be independently developed, integrated, upgraded, or replaced without requiring changes to the underlying framework. This flexibility enables faster technology insertion, reduced integration costs, and greater interoperability across programs and platforms.

By providing open interfaces and leveraging shared standards, pntOS is intended to support a growing community of government, industry, and academic contributors working together to advance the next generation of resilient and interoperable PNT capabilities.

*Charters will be published for these and all Working Groups and Task Forces upon approval.